One of the most entertaining aspects of football and media relations are locker room interviews. Throughout the years, we have seen countless players and coaches give timely quips, angry stares, or short-tempered replies in exchanges with reporters that have provided us with plenty of juicy and memorable content.
The NFL’s COVID protocols forced the media to have to interact with players through Zoom meetings, thus preventing that same level of authenticity in interviews from happening on a more frequent basis. But thankfully, the NFL is forgoing that restriction and will allow media personnel into the locker room at the beginning of next season.
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NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy made the announcement on Tuesday at the yearly NFL ownership meetings in Palm Beach, Florida. In the 2021-2022 season, only fully vaccinated media personnel were allowed into locker rooms or in settings where there was direct contact with other reporters or players. But now, vaccination status won’t matter and interviews can be conducted as normal.
The change comes just one month after the NFL announced that they would drop all COVID regulations for league personnel, but at the time the media restrictions were still in place. Now, the NFL has completely – and hopefully permanently – removed any traces of the nonsensical protocols they held onto for way too long.